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 Red Deer Rebels

Anders Sparkles for Rebels in Season-Opening Loss to Oil Kings

September 22, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Red Deer Rebels News Release


EDMONTON - When your goaltender is your best player on the evening, a victory is not often in the cards.

Such was the case for the Red Deer Rebels Friday night at Rogers Place, where they were outshot 43-22 in a 4-2 Western Hockey League regular-season opening loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

"I thought our goalie was outstanding. He played very well," Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter said of Ethan Anders, who stopped 39 of the 42 shots he faced.

On a positive note, the Rebels applied some late pressure in an attempt to force overtime. But Vince Loschiavo, with his second goal of the contest, scored into an empty net with 41 seconds remaining to seal the victory for the hosts.

Sutter was curious as to how his younger charges would handle the heat of performing under the brights lights in a season opener. His reviews were mixed.

"Some of our young players were like deer in the headlights, especially in the first half of the game," said the Rebels boss. "I really wanted to see how our young guys would respond and again, it's about competing, commitment and working hard.

"First of all your details have to be really good, and it starts with moving your feet. I just thought some of our young guys stood around the first half of the game. Then we changed some things up and they seemed to get their feet moving."

The Rebels were outshot 18-11 in the opening period but actually created the better scoring chances. Josh Tarzwell was stopped by Oil Kings goalie Boston Bilous from the edge of the crease, Reese Johnson was stoned from roughly the same spot, Zak Smith was denied on a breakaway and Oleg Zaytsev nearly cashed a rebound from the side of the goal.

Neither team could find the back of the net during the first 20 minutes, but the Oil Kings struck for a pair in the first half of the second period as Brett Kemp buried a two-on-oh pass from Trey Fix-Wolansky during an Edmonton power play and Conner McDonald converted a rebound.

The Rebels battled back with goals 58 seconds apart later in the period. Zaytsev tallied at 13:34 after taking a perfect two-on-one feed from Tarzwell with Red Deer killing a penalty, and defenceman and Russian countryman Alex Alexeyev unleashed a shot from the top of the left circle that glanced off Oil Kings defender Ethan Cap and past Bilous at 14:32.

Loschiavo , on a one-timer from the left circle, scored at 6:56 of the third period and the power play marker stood up as the winner.

"Some of our older guys, I know they can play better than how they did tonight. That being said, it's Game 1 and it was a good test," said Sutter.

Bilous blocked 20 of the 22 shots he faced as the winning netminder.

"They had quite a few shots early in the game and a lot of them were from the outside," said Sutter. "We did a good job of keeping them to the outside, but they did put a lot of pucks on net and were around the net a lot.

"We have to be tighter in those situations, we have to be better with our turnovers."

The Oil Kings were two-for-five in the power play; the Rebels were zero-for two.

"We took some penalties that were maybe unnecessary," said Sutter, whose team will host the Oil Kings in the second game of a home-and-home set Saturday at the Centrium.

"We have to get back at it," he said.


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Western Hockey League Stories from September 22, 2018


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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